Friday, October 7, 2011

General Sentiment’s Trusted Analytics and Emotional Bonding Q Scores Offer a New Industry Standard in Social TV Monitoring

JERICHO, NY, October 7, 2011 – General Sentiment (GS) and The Q Scores Company today launched their Social TV Audience Reaction (STAR) Monitor, which provides comprehensive daily monitoring of every prime-time show across the broadcast universe and insight into online discussion and the emotional attachment between viewers and these shows.

Emotional Bonding Q scores and General Sentiment’s online discussion analytics offer metrics that quantify discussion levels, emotional attribution and commitment strength among viewers. The GSQ STAR Monitor delivers competitive insight by assessing the audience’s reactions to all shows that air new episodes on the same night.

The report combines General Sentiment’s online Volume and Involvement metrics, which provide the daily emotional reaction, with Q Scores’ nationally representative measures of ongoing audience devotion to determine program commitment and staying power. It is built upon a two-day trailing model that captures and takes into account viewer data for those using online media and DVR equipment for delayed program viewing. Daily tracking of prime-time shows in this manner provides a unique approach for networks, advertisers and media buyers to analyze which shows have the most committed audience and thereby gain valuable competitive insight.

“Tracking online conversations is the first step in the social TV monitoring process,” said Greg Artzt, CEO of General Sentiment. “But determining the audience’s emotional reaction in addition to the audience’s long-term commitment is necessary in order to get a more meaningful picture of a show’s success. The GSQ STAR Monitor offers the comprehensive data necessary for networks to make sound decisions around their programming. It also provides the data essential to help brands determine where best to invest their advertising dollars.”

The GSQ STAR Monitor is the new industry standard in social TV monitoring. The report is an enhanced version of the TV Audience Evaluation Reports (TVAERs) that GS and Q Scores developed last year to provide insight into audience involvement and emotional reaction, and it complements GS’s newly released TV Brand Match product, which offers data on the suitability of advertisers. When used together, these three tools complete the media buying equation.

“The GSQ STAR Monitor is a real-time version of the TVAER we launched last year with the addition of more bells and whistles,” said Henry Schafer, executive vice president of The Q Scores Company. “Audience involvement continues to be key, and emotional commitment is crucial in social TV monitoring. Rather than reporting to the industry on a weekly basis, we can now generate a daily analysis, which provides an even more accurate picture of a show’s success or failure to engage and hold onto its audience over time.”

General Sentiment and Q Scores launched the TV Audience Evaluation Reports (TVAER) last September, and in August of this year, General Sentiment released its cutting-edge TV Brand Match technology. The launch of the GSQ STAR Monitor is an addition to an already robust suite of TV monitoring services offered by General Sentiment and Q Scores.

For more information on the General Sentiment and Q Scores GSQ STAR Monitor, go to:

General Sentiment is a social media monitoring and analytics company delivering insights that change the way brands make product and marketing decisions. Fueled by large-scale natural language processing and text analytics developed over the course of seven years of university research, General Sentiment monitors and interprets online conversations, discovering actionable social insights for its clients.

General Sentiment is a trusted source of industry intelligence, offering quarterly reports which rank and analyze brands across various sectors. It also provides a dashboard, an API and a custom reporting service, all of which allow corporate executives to comprehensively understand brand perception, identify trending topics in specific industries and optimize the effectiveness of marketing campaigns.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

In the just completed Summer 2011 Kids & Teens Brand Q study, Angry Birds ranked within the top ten percent of all brands rated by children 9-11 years of age. It ranked #10 among 9-11 aged boys and #13 among girls of the same age.

The highest Q Score among children 6-11 is Wii while iPod achieves the highest Q Score among teenagers 12-17. Q Scores reflect the degree of brand enthusiasm among those youngsters who are familiar with a brand.

The adult version of this study (Brand Attachment Q) begins at the end of October.

Friday, April 22, 2011

Today's complex TV viewing environment has placed much more focus on how to best determine the value of a program's advertising environment. In order to be a really savvy buyer or seller of commercial time, knowledge of a program's audience must go beyond the limited realm of "how many viewers are delivered" and include a clearer understanding of a program's ability to deliver "satisfied viewers" as well as "viewers who are committed to continue watching on a regular basis". Programs that deliver above average levels of these viewers provide a more valuable advertising environment due to greater viewer involvement.

Reaching satisfied and committed viewers, or "favorite viewers" as we like to call them, is extremely important because they have a stronger likelihood than less favorable viewers to:

watch the whole program

watch the program more often

pay close attention to the program

....and, as a result, also have a stronger likelihood to:

recall the brand being advertised

have a more favorable opinion of the advertised brand

purchase the advertised brand in the future

So, when decisions need to be made about competitive pricing and strategic buying, make sure you are informed about a show's momentum (current viewer satisfaction) and ability to keep viewers tuned-in to future telecasts. Our TVQ and Cable Q Online Program Evaluation Services answer these critical questions throughout the year with regularly scheduled nationally representative surveys -- covering all of the major broadcast and cable networks as well as syndication. Our unique metrics for measuring the strength of program satisfaction (Impact Q) and ongoing commitment (Emotional Bonding Q) get to the very core of what really drives viewers to connect with certain shows -- viewers are primarily driven by their emotions!

This is true for high rated as well as low rated shows and those in between. Hence, the size of a program's audience and/or the program's CPM can be misleading with respect to determining the value of its advertising environment. My next blog will get into more details about how some prime time and cable shows rank on these "viewer emotion" metrics -- you will be surprised!

Monday, February 28, 2011

Steve Martin is still the most appealing Academy Awards host. No host in the last twenty years has connected more with the audience than has Steve Martin, who served in 2003. His likeability (Q Score) rating outdistances all other hosts, including this years' new duo who ranked in the bottom five:

While a high Q Score does not guarantee a solid Academy Awards performance, still future choices might be better served by a "fan favorite".

Thursday, January 20, 2011

As the revamped panel of judges begins its arduous task of evaluating season 10 hopefuls, we looked at the “likeability” ratings (Q Scores) of each of this season’s judges prior to the start of the new season.

Although he is the least well-known of the three, Steven Tyler achieved the same Q Score as did Jennifer Lopez, the most well known. Having the same Q Score but different levels of recognition is possible through the Q Scores technique since it measures the degree of liking (“One of my favorites”) among only those who are familiar with each personality. In this regard, Steven Tyler has an upside potential to generate many more fans.

Q Scores for the winning artists in the first nine Idol seasons averaged slightly below the “norms” for all singers. Carrie Underwood, the winner in season four, outscored the other eight winners by a wide margin and ranked third out of 76 female music performers rated in our Summer 2010 Performer Q study.

About Q Scores

Q Scores identify the most enthusiastic consumers of a personality, character or licensed property, program, or brand. Derived from our data collection model of the Favorites Concept, the Q Scores measure of likeability is an important predictor of greater consumer involvement. Understanding how these consumers are impacted, enables clients to make the most informed decisions regarding their marketing, advertising, and media efforts.

Each Q Scores category in our databases provides a wide variety of demographics for pinpointing target consumer appeal across age, gender, household income, market size, region, race, ethnicity, presence of children and other key characteristics. We offer a variety of custom reasearch options for more precise target market analyses, and when clients’ timing needs are not aligned with that of a scheduled syndicated study.

In addition to providing consistently accurate and reliable data, our top level staff has the experience and expertise to analyze and interpret the information relative to the clients’ specific needs. We are readily available by phone or email to guide our clients with our unmatched and unbiased counsel and analytical support.